Citrus Lane December 2014 Review

My December Citrus Lane box arrived sometime in the last two days. I always get excited for Citrus Lane and with christmas a few days away I knew there'd be some items I could potentially wrap and put under the tree, even though the girls have more than enough already!

For those of you that don't know, Citrus Lane  is a monthly subscription service where you get a box of goodies for your child that are geared towards their current age (and sometimes Mommy) each month delivered to your door. You never know what you are going to get, but overall I have not been disappointed. Plans start at $29/month but if you buy longer subscriptions you can get them as low as $19/month or even cheaper when they run specials).Citrus Lane always includes a very nice information card with their boxes that lists the items and descriptions and some coupon codes! 

This is what I got in my 25 Month Old, Toddler Girl, December 2014 Box and the approximate retail value I found for each item from their specific website (or Amazon, since if you know me, I'm an Amazon Junkie and would most likely buy from there). Sometimes I have to do some math because the sizes aren’t quite the same, hence why they are approximate values.

Melissa & Doug Deluxe 10-Piece Alphabet Nesting and Stacking Blocks ($11.99) - We actually already bought these for EM for Christmas and they are wrapped under our tree. These will go in my gift closet for a future birthday present for one of the MANY babies in our lives. 

Green Toys Stock Pot & Utensils (~$10.00) - I couldn't find this exact item online, because it is an exclusive set for Citrus Lane but the set I linked to is the same items with just one extra piece so I estimated the cost. This will be a great addition to EM's kitchen! Green Toys are such a great quality!

Little Oink Board Book by Chronicle Books  ($7.99) - Kind of an expensive book to buy online (ranges from around $11-$15 depending where you look, yet it's marked $7.99 so that's what I went with. Anywho, it's adorable and will make a great addition to our collection!

 
Juice Beauty Green Apple Age Defy Moisturizer (~$11.25 for .5 oz sample) - I love a good moisturizer and love the Citrus Lane sometimes throws in an item for Mom too! This one will be perfect to add to my travel makeup bag so I don't have to bring my larger size when I travel!

Total Estimated Value of Box: ~$41.23 (not including shipping)

Total Cost of Box: $29.00 (free shipping) -- I only paid $10 though because of an awesome deal I found on Plum District --> definitely keep an eye out for those on Plum District, Groupon and Living Social!

Overall Impression:  Awesome box!! Loved it!

If you are interested in signing up for Citrus Lane, CLICK HERE, and by using my link, you will get 50% off your first box (new customers only). Remember, you can cancel at any time, so your first box would only be $14.50, not too shabby!

Did you get Citrus Lane this month? What'd you get and for how old of a child?

Disclosure: This post contains referral/affiliate links!

Birchbox "Decked Out" December 2014 Review

My December Birchbox came sometime over the last few days, yey!


For those of you that don't now, Birchbox is a monthly subscription (cancel/pause any time) where you get a monthly box, delivered to your front door, of 4-6 high-end beauty and lifestyle samples from top brands. The best part, it's only $10/month! (and free shipping!)

Birchbox is always delivered in a nice box and within the packaging; there is always a nice little box (this month it was blue and festive and would make for a really good box to wrap a christmas gift in - which to be honest I used a bunch of my old boxes to wrap gifts in, they are the perfect size for small items!) with all the goodies. The theme this month is "Decked Out" and and the information card always tells you about the items you are receiving. 

If you are interested in signing up for Birchbox, use my referral link. If you review each product monthly you also get credit money in the Birchbox shop (which sells tons of full sized items and when combined with coupon codes you can get some great deals!). If you review each product each month (10 points per item) then you would get 50 points which equals $5 in credit so the box itself pretty much costs $5 which is a great deal! (assuming there are 5 items in your box each month, which there usually is). Here is what I got this month:

Benefit They're Real! Mascara (~$7.67 for .1oz sample) - MORE mascara! ahh, I swear I have more than enough, but this particular one looks awesome so it may go to the front of my stash for next use!

Dr, Jart+ Black Label Detox BB Beauty Balm (~$4.80 for .2oz sample) - I think when I run out of my current BB cream, this will be the one I'll be buying with my Birchbox, points! I really like how it's a 5 in one product (primer, serum, moisturizer, SPF, & tint).

TONI&GUY Prep Heat Protection Mist (~$7.59 for 2.53oz sample) - I hardly ever blow dry or straighten my hair these days, but when I do, this will come in handy!

English Laundry Signature for Her Parfum (~$3.27 for ~0.07oz sample) - had to estimate the size of the sample since it wasn't stated. I'm not a huge fan of this scent, a little too floral-ish for me. 

Acure Organics Sensitive Facial Cleanser Argan Oil + Probiotic (~$3.75 for 1oz sample) - I liked this cleanser, although it's a little pricey so probably wouldn't buy. I'm also not sure how the probiotic works for a face cleanser, but I hear they are good for you to ingest so maybe they absorb through the skin? 

They also included a $10 coupon to the GAP, which needed to be redeemed online to get a coupon that is only good for the store. I don't have a GAP too close to me, or a need to go before the coupon expires so I sent it to a friend. Had it bee eligible for an online purchase, I totally would have used it.

Total Estimated Value of Box: ~$27.08 (not including shipping or the GAP coupon)

Total Cost of Box: $10.00 (Free Shipping)

Overall Impression: Another great box, even if I didn't care for the 

Which box did you get this month? Did you like it?

Want to see previous boxes I've received? Click here to read my reviews!

Disclosure: This post contains referral links! 

Ipsy "Thinking of You" December 2014 Glam Bag Review

For those of you that don't know, ipsy is a monthly subscription service where or only $10/month (cancel at any time!) you get a Glam Bag (make up bag) filled with 4-5 beauty products curated by Michelle Phan! You get ipsyPoints for reviewing your items (and for doing other things within the site) that can be used toward purchases of additional items.

First things first, ipsy comes in a pretty envelope and inside is of course the Glam Bag stuffed with goodies.  The theme this month was "Thinking o You". Their Glam Room for this month says "Our happy thoughts are wille with YOU this month. Thank you for a 2014 full of beauty wisdom, and inspiration. You've given us so many reasons to smile and look forward to another amazing year ahead. Who are you thinking of and thankful for this month?"

ipsy doesn't send out information cards (Birchbox does, which I definitely prefer). however, an information card isn't really necessary since all items can be found on their website and all have coupon codes for additional purchases if you want to buy some more. It looks like there were a possibility of 13 items this month (although multiple variations/shades of some items) and each subscriber got some combination of 5 of them depending on their preferences from their ipsy beauty quiz match. Now on to my goodies:

Bumble and Bumble Repair Blow Dry (~$3.00 for .5 oz sample) - with it being winter (well kind of, it was 72 earlier today but in the 40's this weekend, so who knows what it'll be each day) I don't like to leave with wet hair which obviously means I have to blow dry it. Will be interested to see how this product helps my hair withstand the heat from the dryer.

Cailyn Cosmetics Just Minerals Eye Polish in Orchid ($15.00 for FULL SIZE .09 oz) - I really like this color and the applicator! This item in itself made the bag more than worth it this month!

Nourish Organic Renewing Eye Cream - This product isn't yet available for sale (not until January) so I wasn't able to really estimate the cost of it but I'll say it was probably around a $6 value  for the .5 oz sample based on the cost of the face cream. I've used the Nourish Organic face cleanser before and liked it so I'm sure I'll like this as well!

NYX Cosmetics Butter Lip Balm in Parfait ($4.00 for FULL SIZE .14 oz) - Not really my color, but it's sheer enough that it'll still work for me. Can always use lip balms!

tarte deluxe lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 Mascara (~$8.33 for .10 oz sample) - I swear I've been getting a ton of mascara's between Birchbox and ipsy lately, but I suppose it never hurts to have more! I'll surely never have to buy it again!

Total Estimated Value: $36.33 (not including the bag itself or any shipping) 

Total Price Paid: $10 (free shipping)

Overall Impression: Pretty happy with this bag. After the last two months that just weren't for me, this one was much better!

If you are interested in signing up for ipsy, use my referral link  (and I thank you in advance for some ipsyPoints to use for future add on items!)

Did you get ipsy this month? Did you like it? What'd you get?

Disclosure: This post contains referral links!

Citrus Lane November 2014 Review

I feel like it took FOREVER for my Citrus Lane box to get here this month. Didn’t help my Mystery Box and other items I purchased came like 2 weeks ago, in two separate shipments, so I felt like was being taunted. When it finally came, it was super heavy, so I was curious to see what was in it. And lately I’ve been wrapping most of the items for Christmas presents for the girls too!

 

For those of you that don't know, Citrus Lane  is a monthly subscription service where you get a box of goodies for your child that are geared towards their current age (and sometimes Mommy) each month delivered to your door. You never know what you are going to get, but overall I have not been disappointed. Plans start at $29/month but if you buy longer subscriptions you can get them as low as $19/month or even cheaper when they run specials).

Citrus Lane always includes a very nice information card with their boxes that lists the items and descriptions and some coupon codes! 

 

 

This is what I got in my 24 Month Old, Toddler Girl, November 2014 Box and the approximate retail value I found for each item from their specific website (or Amazon, since if you know me, I'm an Amazon Junkie and would most likely buy from there). Sometimes I have to do some math because the sizes aren’t quite the same, hence why they are approximate values.

 

Melissa & Doug Mermaid Dress-Up Chunky Puzzle ($9.99): Lately, Citrus Lane has been letting us choose a specific “option” of one selected item for our box. Or you can choose for them to pick for you. This month’s selection was this puzzle and we had a few variations to choose from and this is the one we liked the best. EM really likes puzzles so I was excited this was included.

 

 Plan Toy Vegetable Play Set (~$10.80) he link isn’t to the EXACT set we got, looks like this set was exclusive to Citrus Lane   but this one was very similar. Plan Toys does sell the items individually as well, so that is how I came up with the estimated value. EM loves her kitchen and the food accessories she has, so this will be a nice addition.

 

 Bear Takes a Trip Board Book ($6.56) We already have this book but from a previous Citrus Lane  box, so I’ll be saving it for a baby shower gift. Lately a lot of baby showers have been requeting cards inlieu of books and I love it. My shower was the same way and EM got so many awesome books before she was even born.

 

 

  Fast and Slow Board Book ($6.51) Citrus Lane had included a little note card stating they threw in an extra book since we may have received a duplicate item from a previous box,, which we obviously did, so I’m glad they wanted to make up for it and gave us this book, which we don’t have. This is a good board book showing opposites. 

 

 

 

Annie's Homegrown Cheddar Organic Snack Mix(~$0.44 for 1 oz package) I’ve heard good things about Annie’s products but I’m not a huge “must be organic” person so I’ve never bought them. These sure are yummy though!

 

Total Estimated Value of Box: ~$34.30 (not including shipping)

Total Cost of Box: $29.00 (free shipping) -- I only paid $10 though because of an awesome deal I found on Plum District --> definitely keep an eye out for those on Plum District, Groupon and Living Social!

 

Overall Impression:  If I didn’t count the “extra” item that they threw in because of the duplicate, the value wasn’t that great, but overall love all the items. Especially the Veggie set! I’ve been eyeing it for a while and have seen it included in boxes before so was SUPER excited to get it in ours!

 

If you are interested in signing up for Citrus Lane, CLICK HERE, and by using my link, you will get 50% off your first box (new customers only). Remember, you can cancel at any time, so your first box would only be $14.50, not too shabby!

 

Did you get Citrus Lane this month? What'd you get and for how old of a child?

 

Disclosure: This post contains referral links!

Citrus Lane Mystery Box Review "Melissa & Doug Clock Sorter"

From time to time, Citrus Lane offers mystery boxes. I've never bought one before but have always been tempted so finally I decided to jump on the deal since I had some Citrus Lane shop credits and am glad I finally decided to do so! I got my box today and was excited to see what actually came in it!

For those of you that don't know, Citrus Lane  is a monthly subscription service where you get a box of goodies for your child that are geared towards their current age (and sometimes Mommy) each month delivered to your door. You never know what you are going to get, but overall I have not been disappointed. Plans start at $29/month but if you buy longer subscriptions you can get them as low as $19/month or even cheaper when they run specials). 

The Mystery Boxes are a separate purchase, not a subscription and they usually cost $29 and estimated to have a $60+ value.  There were several options to choose from based on the age and gender of your child. I chose the Melissa & Doug Clock Sorter Mystery Box which was described as "Items are appropriate for a variety of ages, recommended for preschool girls (ages 3 years+) and features a Melissa and Doug clock sorter." The only downfall to Mystery Boxes is you have a chance of getting some duplicate items if you are a current or past subscriber. Since I selected a box recommended for ages 3+, I was hoping I wouldn't get too many duplicates.

They don't send information cards with the mystery boxes but this is what I received:

Melissa and Doug Clock Sorter ($11.99) - EM LOVES working with shapes so I figured this would be awesome for her and will eventually help her learn her time as well. Until then, it'll be helpful with continuing to learn her numbers and continue with the reinforcement for the shapes and colors. Figured it was a good change from her normal shape sorter toys. We're giving this to her for her birthday this weekend. This item was what made me decide to try a Mystery Box to begin with (obviously, since it was the only item that was disclosed).

Bumkins Wet Bag in Disney Minnie Icon Print ($10.95) -  This was a duplicate item, just a different print. We received a different Minnie one in our June 2014 Citrus Lane box. We don't use our wet bag that often, but it did come in handy after swim lessons. I know these are super popular for people who cloth diaper though!

Wild Horse Winter Book ($6.95) - We aren't quite ready for "real" (non-board) books yet as EM is a little rough with them, but we'll save this for when she's a little older. Although we did wrap it her as a Christmas gift We can never have enough books!

Emily Press Parade Love Shoe Labels ($9.99) - This is kind of a duplicate item. We received very similiar labels in our September 2014 Citrus Lane box, except they weren't specifically "shoe" labels. I love these labels because they are waterproof and durable and these particular ones will be great once Emily starts trying to put on her own shoes. They have half matching animals to differentiate between right and left. 

Fun Things to Color form A to Z Artivity Book ($7.99) - EM is getting really into coloring lately (like we color EVERY NIGHT!) and is getting an Art Easel for her birthday from her Aunt which comes with markers. That will be our first at home experience with markers, and if that goes well, then she can have this as a Christmas present too (the markers are washable and she'll be supervised but still a little nervous about markers in the house). 

Pearhead Handprint Wall Art (~$12.95) - This is another duplicate item, although one I love, so am happy to receive it. We received it in our December 2013 Citrus Lane Box. We actually didn't make handprints on our previous one, I had taped off "I LOVE YOU" with painter's tape and then let EM paint it, let it dry and then peeled of the tape and it made a cute gift for my mom for mother's day. We had tried to do the handprints but EM wanted no part of doing that nicely and that's one thing I love about this item, if you make a mistake, you can rinse the paint off, blot dry and start again which is what we did after we realized the handprints weren't working out. 

Total Estimated Value of Box: ~$46.92(not including shipping)

Total Cost of Box: $29.00 (free shipping) -- I didn't pay anything though since I had Citrus Lane shop credit.

Overall Impression: Well it wasn't quite the $60+ value they stated, but they do often times over-estimate some items and/or sell them for more than I can find them for on Amazon but overall I'm very happy with my first mystery box (even with the duplicate items) and wouldn't hesitate to order one again.

If you are interested in signing up, CLICK HERE: Citrus Lane, and by using my link, you will get 50% off your first box (new customers only). Remember, you can cancel at any time, so your first box would only be $14.50, not too shabby!

Did you get a Citrus Lane Mystery Box this month? What'd you get in it?

Disclosure: This post contains referral links!